Illumination devices for vanity mirrors typically incorporated in motor vehicle sun visors are well known.
The sun visor mirror is usually covered by a slidable or tiltable cover operated at the user's will. It is common for the cover to act on the illumination device so that it opens or closes the electric circuit by acting on the corresponding switch to turn on or off the light meant to illuminate the mirror.
One of the drawbacks of these devices is that the conducting elements are cables that do not follow straight paths from the car supply to the mirror, complicating its layout and assembly. In this path there are moving parts that can lead to fatigue of the conducting element and eventual breakage.
In addition, these circuits require additional mechanical elements such as switches. Another common problem is connecting cables to the switches, which is generally by welding. These operations must be performed by suitably skilled workers; these are delicate unions that often lose reliability, so that the contact is lost and the circuit remains open.
According to the above, the operations for mounting the illumination device in the sun visor must be performed manually, increasing the cost of the final product and the mounting times.
One example is patent DE19521748, which relates to a sun visor with a vanity mirror and an incorporated illumination device. The solution proposed in this document to illuminate the mirror uses a flexible conducting element that opens or closes an electric circuit that uses cables, with the resulting drawbacks: attachment of the cables to the sun visor body and complicated assembly in these small spaces.
Patent WO2004039616 also relates to a sun visor with a vanity mirror and illumination device. In this case the electric circuit uses cables and external mechanical elements as switches. As it requires additional elements such as switches, the mounting tasks are complicated and slowed down, resulting in an increased cost of the final product.
Patent WO03/095253 proposes another solution for a sun visor with an illumination device. In this case the movement of the sun visor body or the movement of an articulated arm activate or deactivate the illumination device. The articulated arm comprises two metallic conducting elements one of them constantly in contact with an end of an electric conductor element, due to a permanent strength, and the other metallic element can take contact with a second end of the electric conductor element and in this way activate the illumination device.
This solution doesn't use a laminar element that swivels about any pin or interact together with the sun visor body and a mirror cover as it is explained in the present invention.
The present invention solves the problems mentioned before. An illumination device is obtained that eliminates conducting cables and switches, therefore eliminating the problems resulting from the delicate unions between these elements. A single element integrates the functions performed by the conducting cables and the switch, thereby simplifying the mounting operations.